Muhammad a Prophet For all Humanity
11. Islam comes to Madinah
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After this, the people of Madinah accepted Islam in
large numbers. They became known as the Ansar,
or helpers, of Islam. It was the selfless support they
offered to Islam that enabled the Prophet’s religion
to gain supremacy in Arabia.
Five years before the Prophet’s emigration to
Madinah, the people of that city had thought
nothing of his message, and had rejected it out of
hand. Yet just five years later these same people
accepted Islam. The reason for this was that when
they first met the Prophet they were preoccupied by
military considerations; they could think of nothing
else but how to subdue their enemies. This meant
that they had no time to give consideration to
spiritual matters. God, and life after death,
appeared to them to be extraneous issues, designed
to divert them from their real aim.
The Aws and the Khazraj poured all their resources
into the war of Bu’ath. All they received in return,
however, was self-destruction. The very future of
the two tribes was cast into doubt: it seemed as if
the Jews would set them against one another until
they were annihilated. These thoughts ushered in a
